U.S. President William Henry Harrison referred to Simon Bolivar in his Inaugural Address, March 4, 1841:

"This is the old trick of those who would usurp the government of their country.

In the name of democracy they speak, warning the people against the influence of wealth and the danger of aristocracy. History, ancient and modern, is full of such examples ...

Bolivar possessed himself of unlimited power with the title of his country's liberator."

Contrary to North America, where for a century and a half prior to its independence citizens had been schooled by pastors and church leaders in self-government,

Simon Bolivar accused Spain of having kept the people of New Spain for centuries under a "triple yoke of ignorance, tyranny, and vice" and therefore any new government "will require an infinitely firm hand."

In Mexico, September 16, 1810, a priest named Miguel Hidalgo, gave a speech, "The Cry of Dolores," calling people to revolt against the Napoleon-controlled Spanish elites.

Hidalgo gathered nearly 90,000 poor farmers, but they were defeated at the Battle of Calderon Bridge in 1811.

﻿Hidalgo was executed.

The Revolution continued until Mexico gained its independence in 1821.

Rather than setting up a constitutional republic, like the United States, Agustín de Iturbide set up a Mexican Empire where he ruled as Emperor.

In the next 36 years, Mexico struggled through 50 different governments.

Santa Anna finally laid aside Mexico's Constitution and made himself despoticdictator, as he had told the U.S. minister to Mexico Joel R. Poinsett:

"A hundred years to come my people will not be fit for liberty ... A despotism is the proper government for them, but there is no reason why it should not be a wise and virtuous one."

Santa Anna exiled a young leader who challenged his power in 1853 named Benito Juárez.

The next year, Benito Juárez returned to lead the Revolution of Ayutla ousting Santa Anna.

He canceled all debts for peasants over 10 pesos, restored communal property and broke the monopoly of Hacienda stores.

He forbade all forms of corporal punishment and decreed that poor people could no longer be bought and sold for the price of their debt.

To the dismay of wealthy, Maximilian upheld liberal policies of land reforms, religious freedom, and extended the right to vote beyond the landholding class.

The United States Government, after the Civil War, did not want European powers in the western hemisphere, as stated in the Monroe Doctrine, so it put diplomatic pressure on Napoleon III to abandon support of Maximillian and withdraw French troops from Mexico.

The U.S. then began secretly supplying guns to Mexican gangs, conveniently "losing" arms and ammunition at El Paso del Norte near the Mexican border.

With the threat of a U.S. invasion backing Benito Juárez,Maximilian's supporters began to abandon him.

Maximillian's wife, Carlota, went to Europe desperate for help but was denied everywhere and suffered an emotional collapse.

Napoleon III urged Maximillian to flee Mexico, but he refused to desert his followers, knowing the fate they would suffer.

Maximillian let his followers decide whether or not he should abdicate.

Benito Juárez refused and had Maximillian shot to death on June 19, 1867, even photographing him in a coffin.

Maximillian's last words were:

"I forgive everyone, and I ask everyone to forgive me. May my blood which is about to be shed, be for the good of the country. Viva Mexico, viva la independencia!"

Benito Juárez died of a heart attack just five years later, after putting down a revolt by a young leader who challenged his power named Porfirio Diaz.

Porfirio Diaz was President till there was another revolt led by a young leader who challenged his power named Francisco Madero.

Madero was murdered in a coup d'Etat in 1913 by Victoriano Huerta, which started another civil war.

A reflective quote contrasting the stability of the United States was made by 13th President Millard Fillmore, December 6, 1852:

"Our grateful thanks are due to an all-merciful Providence ...

Our own free institutions were not the offspring of our Revolution. They existed before.

They were planted in the free charters of self-government under which the English colonies grew up ...

(Other) nations have had no such training for self-government, and every effort to establish it by bloody revolutions has been, and must without that preparation continue to be, a failure.

Liberty unregulated by law degenerates into anarchy, which soon becomes the most horrid of all despotisms ...

We owe these blessings, under Heaven, to the happy Constitution and Government which were bequeathed to us by our fathers, and which it is our sacred duty to transmit in all their integrity to our children."